John Heffernan

Had a great weekend in Galway. The National Venturer Forum had organised a n activity weekend based in the Renmore Scout Den. They had organised bouncy castle, Treasure hunt anda trip to the cinema. Ray (the movie extra) was in charge of the beach activities. It is great from a Leaders point of view, all we had to do was turn up, sit down and eat. No organising, no keeping people in line etc as the Forum committee did that themselves. There was a good turn out including a group for Girl guides from Cork whose leader was an ex SAG. The funniest thing of the weekend as coming back after watching the film "Intermission" in the cinema was the reenactment of the Chef brown sauce scene in the kitchen afterwards. You need to see the film to understand this one I am afraid. In my opinion it was not delish....

It has really hit me on the Sept 1st that I am not teaching as I saw the students coming out of Moyne College and Murdeachs at lunch time. All wearing brand new uniforms as they take their first lunch break. Looking forward to going back to college first time as a part time student. The course I am doing is M.Sc IT in Education see http://www.cs.tcd.ie/courses/mscitedu/index.htm currently reading Howard Gardners Frames of mind.

Here are my photos from Poland. Enjoy. http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/crossmolinajohn/album?.dir=/Poland+2003

September comes as an afterthought of summer. There is still good weather but as the kids go back to school, the cycle of the year continues. Once you leave a job with only 4 weeks holidays and start teaching, you look forward to holidays with the same enthusiasm as a 10 year old. Also the same foreboding occurs as the copybook ads start to appear on the TV in August. Still no job.

I have come back from a month abroad, two weeks in Poland and two weeks in Spain. I have found out that the Poles have a longer school day than we have. Their classes last 50 mins but they have a 10 recess/break between each class. Their day start at 7:30/8:00 and finish at 3:30/4:00 depending on the school. THis method does have some merit so anyone who is trying to explain something in class as the bell goes and the class by Pavlovian conditioning instantly start packing their bag for next class can identify with.

So school is out for summer. You would have to pity the poor Leaving Certs and the pressure that they are under. Is the pressure that we put them under worthwhile. Do really many LCs really know what they want to do with the rest of their lives at the age of 17. I am a hell of a lot older than those LCs and I don't know what I want to be. The concept of a job for life is gone yet in secondary school we just gear them up for one small but pressurised part of that. Failure at the LC does not equate with failure in life yet to some students the Leaving is their raison etre. I read recently that one in 15 millionaires in the USA is a high school dropout. I suppose instead of teaching about the failures of the league of nations and dihedral angles on the vertical plane should be we be teaching them how to achieve their dreams and help overcome the difficulties and challenges that the real world will throw at them.

So school is out for summer. You would have to pity the poor Leaving Certs and the pressure that they are under. Is the pressure that we put them under worthwhile. Do really many LCs really know what they want to do with the rest of their lives at the age of 17. I am a hell of a lot older than those LCs and I don't know what I want to be. The concept of a job for life is gone yet in secondary school we just gear them up for one small but pressurised part of that. Failure at the LC does not equate with failure in life yet to some students the Leaving is their raison etre. I read recently that one in 15 millionaires in the USA is a high school dropout. I suppose instead of teaching about the failures of the league of nations and dihedral angles on the vertical plane should be we be teaching them how to achieve their dreams and help overcome the difficulties and challenges that the real world will throw at them.

Weblogs are fast becoming a cool trend world wide now. Many of the people I have worked within the past few years have one now. I an looking at a way to see if there is a way to use this in an educational environment.

Christmas tests are just like Christmas shopping. A lot of stress, effort in presentation, pushing in queues (esp for the photocopier ) and 'your gift' not appriecated by those who receive it. JB is finishing up his stint on OLG and the girls are quite disappointed in his leaving as evident in the 2nd year petition to keep him. The Leaving Certs were very quiet in this matter. hmmm I hope to see James in the Castlecourt over Christmas Bah Humbug

Welcome to my part of cyberspace where you will be able to see what my brain is churning out soon on a range of matters such as football irish education system and IT in education